Rahim Yar Khan: Amid continuing attacks on minorities in the country, a Hindu family was tortured in Pakistan`s Punjab province for obtaining water from a mosque tap.
A farm worker`s family was tortured and some locals from the Basti Kahoor Khan area of Rahim Yar Khan held them, hostage, for "violating the sanctity" of the religious place. According to Dawn, the incident took place a few days back when Alam Ram Bheel was picking raw cotton along with his other family members, including his wife, in a field.He said when the family went outside a nearby mosque to get drinking water from a tap, some locals beat them up. When the family was returning home after unloading the picked cotton, the villagers held them hostage at their outhouse and tortured them again.
The Airport police station did not register the case as the attackers were related to a local Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentarian, according to Bheel, reported Dawn. Anti-minority and anti-Hindu vernacular has become acceptable among the Pakistani political elite and now it has trickled down to the masses. The recent vandalization of a temple in Bhong town in Rahim Yar Khan is yet another example of the attack on minorities and their places of worship in Pakistan.
The videos of attack and vandalism went viral and were picked up by both local and international media, reported The Nation. In recent years, there has been a surge in attacks on places of worship of religious minorities in Pakistan. The country has been repeatedly slammed by the international community for not safeguarding the interest of its minorities.
